Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results and Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2022-2023

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On October 18, 2023, based on timely requests for review, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.221(c)(1)(i), we initiated this administrative review of the antidumping duty order on passenger tires from China. This review covers 33 exporters of the subject merchandise.

In April 2024, we extended the preliminary results of this review until August 29, 2024. On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. The deadline for these preliminary results is now September 5, 2024.

For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this administrative review, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx. A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included in Appendix I.

Scope of the Order

The products covered by the Order are passenger tires from China. For a full description of the scope of the Order, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Partial Rescission of Administrative Review

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce will rescind an administrative review, in whole or in part, if a party who requested the review withdraws the request within 90 days of the date of publication of notice of initiation of the requested review in the Federal Register . Between October 2023 and January 2024, all parties withdrew their requests for review by the 90-day withdrawal deadline for the companies identified in Appendix III. Because all parties timely withdrew their requests for a review of these exporters, consistent with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), Commerce is rescinding this review, in part, with respect to these companies.

Furthermore, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3), Commerce will rescind an administrative review when there are no entries of subject merchandise during the POR for which liquidation is suspended. Normally, upon completion of an administrative review, the suspended entries are liquidated at the antidumping duty assessment rate calculated for the review period. Therefore, for an administrative review of a company to be conducted, there must be a suspended entry that Commerce can instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to liquidate at the antidumping duty assessment rate calculated for the POR.

In January and August 2024, we notified parties of our intent to rescind this administrative review, in part, with respect to the companies identified in Appendix III, with the exception of Shandong Linglong Tyre Co., Ltd. (Shandong Linglong), because there were no suspended entries of subject merchandise produced or exported by these companies during the POR, and we invited interested parties to comment. Therefore, we determine that, in the absence of any suspended entries of subject merchandise from these five companies listed in Appendix III during the POR, we are rescinding the administrative review for these companies (excluding Shandong Linglong), in accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(3).

With regard to Shandong Linglong, we received comments from this company, stating that it had reviewable entries during the POR. We intend to request further information regarding such entries, which we will consider for the final results.

Methodology

Commerce is conducting this review in accordance with section 751(a)(1)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.213. We calculated constructed export prices in accordance with section 772(b) of the Act. Because China is a non-market economy (NME) country, within the meaning of section 771(18) of the Act, we calculated NV in accordance with section 773(c) of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our conclusions, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Separate Rates

As discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum, Commerce preliminarily finds that Shandong Hongsheng Rubber Technology Co., Ltd. (Shandong Hongsheng) and Shandong Haohua Tire Co., Ltd. (Shandong Haohua) have not established their eligibility for a separate rate. Moreover, Commerce preliminarily finds that seven other companies under review did not establish their eligibility for separate rates because they failed to provide either a separate rate application, a separate rate certification, or a no-shipment certification (if they had previously received a separate rate). As such, we preliminarily determine that Shandong Hongsheng, Shandong Haohua, and these seven other companies are part of the China-wide entity. See Appendix II for a complete list of these companies.

Commerce preliminarily determines that the following companies have demonstrated their eligibility for a separate rate in this review: (1) Zhaoqing Junhong Co., Ltd (Junhong); (2) Jiangsu General Science Technology Co., Ltd.; (3) Qingdao Transamerica Tire Industrial Co., Ltd.; and (4) Winrun Tyre Co., Ltd.

The Act and Commerce's regulations do not address the establishment of a rate to apply to companies not selected for individual examination when Commerce limits its examination in an administrative review pursuant to section 777A(c)(2) of the Act. Generally, Commerce looks to section 735(c)(5) of the Act, which provides instructions for calculating the all-others rate in an investigation, for guidance when determining the dumping margin for respondents that are not individually examined in an administrative review. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act states that the all-others rate should be calculated by averaging the weighted-average dumping margins for individually-examined respondents, excluding dumping margins that are zero, de minimis, or based entirely on facts available. For these preliminary results, we preliminarily determined a dumping margin for the separate rate respondents using the calculated rate of the mandatory respondent, Junhong, which is not zero or de minimis, or determined entirely on the basis of facts available.

China-Wide Entity

Commerce's policy regarding conditional review of the China-wide entity applies to this administrative review. Because no party requested a review of the China-wide entity, the China-wide entity is not under review. Therefore, the rate previously established for the China-wide entity ( i.e., 76.46 percent) remains the China-wide entity rate this review.

Preliminary Results of Review

We preliminarily determine that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist for the period August 1, 2022, through July 31, 2023: